Change of Heart
by swarley and sparkles 5ever
Summary: What if Ted waited to Robin that Barney was going to propose to Patrice? ***possible trigger warning***


_What if Ted waited to Robin that Barney was going to propose to Patrice? The Final Page Part 2 with a major plot-twist ~salutes~ Major Plot-Twist _

* * *

Ted looked out the window, watching from the back of the limo as Manhattan passed before his eyes. He was lost in a sea of emotions, this was supposed to be his big day. The unveiling of his first skyscraper, it was a huge accomplishment, especially at his age. He was dressed to impress in a tux, one even Barney would approve of, and after an hour he'd finally gotten his hair perfect – but something was bothering him.

He felt a hand on his knee and turned his head away from the window, to look at Robin. Her bright blue eyes were full of worry, she had picked up a strange vibe from him. His silence was unusual, and concerning.

"Ted, is everything alright?"

Ted looked at Robin, and he knew the answer to that question, but he couldn't bring himself to be honest. He smiled and placed his hand atop hers, which still rested on his knee.

"Everything's great. I'm just a little nervous, is all."

Ted was lying, thankfully, Robin hadn't picked up on it. Ted wasn't alright, nothing made sense to him in that moment, including his own actions.

Barney was about to propose to Patrice, on top of the World Wide News building. How was he supposed to think about his building, when Barney was making the biggest mistake of his life?

Ted knew Barney for years, and if there is one thing Barney always avoided, it was commitment. After his engagement with Quinn fell through, the gang watched him struggle to get back to his old self. Ted feared that this proposal was just a cry for help, an over-correction as Lily had put it.

The worst part of it all was that Ted knew Robin had feelings for Barney. He felt selfish for keeping this information from her, she had been hurting over him for a long time. Deep down, Ted knew that he should probably tell Robin the real reason that Barney wouldn't attend the opening. However, he couldn't bring himself to do it, for two reasons. The first being he had made a jinx swear to Barney, the consequences of breaking such an oath were too painful to risk; and secondly, Ted secretly feared that if Robin knew, she'd go and stop it.

Ted wanted his friends to be happy, but at what cost? What if, Barney could be happy with Patrice, and this wasn't just an over-correction, but, fate. He couldn't be responsible for messing with true love. Maybe, once Robin saw how happy Barney would be with Patrice, she too would move on.

Ted knew that with Barney out of the picture, Robin may finally love him back.

He felt selfish for thinking it, because they'd been down that road before, and yet part of him still believed that she that she could be the future Mrs. Mosby. Ted couldn't risk telling Robin, besides, if Barney was serious about Patrice, then maybe asking Robin to go up there and make a fool of herself wasn't the best option.

Ted continued to argue with himself, until ultimately he decided to keep his mouth shut. It wasn't his business, if Barney was willing to propose to Patrice, then so be it.

.

The limo pulled up to the front of the GNB building, Ted escorted Robin in, and they went up to the sixty-sixth floor, where the celebration was taking place. Walking through the building, Ted felt a rush like never before. He had made this, an idea in his head was now a physical object, he felt powerful.

Lily and Marshall stopped by shortly, then rushed home to spend time with Marvin, leaving Ted and Robin to mingle. Robin hung onto Ted's arm, she loved seeing him this happy. The more people that came up to him, the more compliments he received for his work, and the more his smile grew. However, Robin sensed Ted wasn't as fine as he was acting, she saw something underneath brewing.

Upon returning from the restroom, Robin saw Ted staring out the window, glancing into the night sky.

"Hey big shot." She said as she approached him.

Ted turned and smiled when he saw her.

"What'cha looking at?" She asked, staring into city skyline, with him.

"Nothing." He replied unconvincingly.

"I know something's up, Ted."

He tried to play it off, "What? I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Seriously, what has been bothering you so much? This is _your _night, you should be celebrating. Schmosby's first building!"

Ted felt Robin staring at him, and turned to face her gaze. Her eyes searched his face for the truth, but she remained perplexed. Finally, he couldn't hold it anymore.

"Barney is proposing to Patrice on top of the World Wide News building at 8pm."

Robin's face went blank with shock, and before she could compose herself, someone whisked Ted away. It was time for his big toast, Robin held her glass of champagne up half-heartedly.

_Barney is proposing to Patrice._

She felt the shock on her face, this new information was too much for her to handle at that moment.

_He and Patrice are going to get married._

Ted's speech ended and everyone applauded.

_They're going to probably have kids._

"To Ted Mosby,"

_I bet their kids won't be as cute as ours would've been._

_"_None of this would've been possible without him."

_He can't marry Patrice._

The music began to play again, and Ted walked over to where Robin stood, frozen.

_DAMMIT PATRICE I LOVED BARNEY FIRST._

She clutched her champagne glass tightly in her hand, her breathing was shallowed and panicky.

_Whoa, Scherbatsky, take a breather. Barney and Patrice are in love. If they want to make a huge mistake and get married, its not like you can just run up there, knock the ring out of his hand and say "You should be marrying me." _

Robin placed her glass down, and looked out the window, she could see the WWN building from where she stood.

_Then again ... _

"Tedm I-I-I can't stay."

"Robin, wait!" He called, but she was already half-way across the room, sprinting in her heels.

She reached the door, and caught his eye, then mouthed, _Sorry,_ before escaping.

Once outside, Robin ran to find a cab, "Taxi!" she called as she stuck out her arm. The cab ride went by in a blur. When she entered the WWN building, Robin headed straight for the elevator, inside she checked her phone for the time. It was a quarter past midnight, she was definitely too late.

_What am I doing? It's over, Barney doesn't love me. He loves Patrice_.

Robin stood at the door to the roof, arguing with herself. She wanted to believe that she no longer had feelings for Barney, but she couldn't. There was something about her and Barney that made he think they weren't over. She needed to stop it, or at least see the proposal, there's no way she'd believe it if she didn't at least see it.

Robin closed her eyes, and took a deep breath as she opened the door to the roof. This was it, she was really doing it. Robin opened the door, and to her surprise, there was no one there.

.

Red rose petals laid scattered across the roof, candles were lined up, forming a path for her to walk through. At the end lay a sheet of parchment paper, resembling the ones from Barney's infamous playbook.

Curiously, Robin picked the paper up, there was a single sentence written in Barney's handwritting.

_I love you guys so much._

_-Stinson out._

Attached, was a second piece of parchment paper. The words "The Robin" were written across the top, following it was an elaborate sixteen step plan.

Robin dropped the paper to the ground, and ran to the edge of the roof, she scanned the perimeter for Barney.

"Barney!"

There was no response.

She kicked off her heels, and ran barefoot around the perimeter of the roof, until finally she saw him. There was an empty bottle of Glenn McKenna in his hand, she watched as he drunkenly stepped up to the ledge. Robin gasped audibly_, this idiot is going to jump. _

Robin tried to scream, but the wind had begun to pick up, and she was freezing.

"Barney!" Her voice muffled by the weather, and the knot in her throat.

A thin layer of snow had begun to coat the roof, her toes burned from the cold against her bare feet. Robin sprinted to the other side of the roof.

"BARNEY DON"T JUMP!"

Tears were streaming down her face, running black mascara down her cheeks_._

* * *

Barney stared down at the city below him, he was piss drunk, and more depressed than he'd ever been in his life. If Robin didn't love him, then nothing else mattered any more. The wind picked up, and his drunken state didn't take to it too well, his body swayed.

Everything that he once considered "legendary" didn't matter at all. Barney came to the haunting realization that legendary was just another way of saying "not real". It was another one of his coping mechanisms, one of his cries for help.

There he stood, on the line between life and death. He no longer had to wait for it. He didn't have to wait for anything anymore.

Barney moved his heels closer to the edge, and closed his eyes. He couldn't live in a world where Robin didn't love him back, and he would never recover from making this big of an ass of himself.

After everything he'd been through, he finally reached his breaking point. Quinn and him couldn't make it work, Robin chose someone else over him time and time again.,Ted wouldn't even call him his best friend. Barney knew it was only a matter of time before Ted finally settled down, and Robin's career took off. Marshall and Lily had already begun their family, and would only continue to drift away. Barney didn't want to stick around and watch his friends leave him, it was all too painful. And knowing that Robin didn't love him back made it all the worse.

He took one last swig from the bottle of Glenn McKenna in his hands, and tossed it over the edge. The wind pushed forcefully on his back, encouraging him to take the final step. Barney steadied himself, and took a deep breath.

He imagined Robin, he remembered every moment they had shared from the first time they met, to their very last kiss.

Barney closed his eyes.

He could see her soft brown curls falling in front of her face, her bright blue eyes. Barney could feel her soft pink lips against his, and hear the little giggle she did after they kissed. He could smell her strawberry shampoo, and her lavender body lotion.

"I love you Robin." He whispered into the air.

"Barney."

The sound of his name in the distance startled him, he craned his neck to see who was calling him, the combination of alcohol in his veins and snow in his eyes, made his vision unreliable. He turned his body around, his feet still inches from the ledge, and squinted.

"Don't jump, Barney!"

He was convinced this was his mind and the alcohol playing tricks on him. He was hallucinating.

_Just one step backward, that's all you need to take. Just one step._

"Barney, please!"

Tears streamed down his face, the voice was getting louder, and it was so desperate, but he knew it wasn't real.

"I'm sorry."

All of his weight rested on the balls of his feet, as his heels dangled above the city. His hair was covered in snow, his tie was undone, and his eyes were closed.

Barney finally felt at peace.

He shifted his weight to his heels, then he opened his eyes. Standing before him, was Robin, and she looked gorgeous in a red gown and snow in her hair. There were tears in her eyes, and she was out of breath, but she'd never looked more beautiful. Barney was so sure she was a figment of his imagination.

* * *

Robin had just barely made it in time, she was just inches from him. Their eyes locked, and a sense of relief flooded through her briefly.

_Thank God he saw me, I just need to get him down and sober him up. _

His blue eyes went blank, and before she could say anything, he took a step back.

Robin reached desperately for him, and missed. A blood curdling cry of pain left her body, filling the atmosphere of the city around her.

* * *

Barney couldn't hear anything, but he felt her hand barely graze his chest and she reached to grab him. He fell from the roof, and he noticed, too late, that his tie was gone. Robin had pulled it off in an effort to stop him.

He hadn't been hearing things, she'd really been there. She had showed up, and instantly relief filled him, followed by grief.

_W__HAT DID I JUST DO?! _

Robin did love him, and he just threw it all away.

_I change my mind! I don't want this!_

That was Barney's final thought.

* * *

Robin clutched Barney's tie tightly in her hand, and her knees gave out. She dropped to the floor, and time ceased. Robin screamed, and called after Barney through her sobs. She became short of breath, and thought her chest might explode from the pressure.

She had been too late.


End file.
